Notes on a Scorecard - May 15, 1990

What the Lakers need to do to come back and win the series from Phoenix:

Acquire Patrick Ewing. . . .

Get 135 minutes from Magic Johnson just like the 45 he played in Phoenix Sunday. . . .

Have Cotton Fitzsimmons say something nasty about them. . . .

Play Laker basketball instead of Laker team handball. . . .

Bring back Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to give Vlade Divac a crash course in the sky hook. . . .

Get Mark West to play like Mark West. . . .

Trade the rights to Dancing Barry and cash to the Suns for the Gorilla. . . .

Collect as many floor burns as Kurt Rambis and Dan Majerle. . . .

Have Pat Riley coach like the coach of the year that he finally is. . . .

Get Jeff Hornacek to play like Jeff Hornacek. . . .

Remind James Worthy that he has to be more consistent in May to become Mr. June. . . .

Look at the films of Game 4 and notice that A.C. Green was the game’s leading rebounder although he could hardly make it up and down the court in the second half. . . .

Get Byron Scott to play like Byron Scott. . . .

Don’t allow Kevin Johnson to drive in the diamond lane most of the time. . . .

Win at least three consecutive games for the 14th time this season. . . .

From Oakland Athletic second baseman Mike Gallego after the trade with the Dodgers for Willie Randolph: “It’s going to be tougher for me to get a good table at a restaurant now, saying, ‘I’m Mike Gallego, extra infielder.’ ” . . .

No matter how many players he loses, Bob Rodgers always seems to have the Montreal Expos playing respectable baseball. . . .

It came as no great surprise to those who saw him pitch with the Dodgers that Matt Young tied a Seattle Mariners’ record with three wild pitches Sunday. . . .

Recently retired major league stars played a nine-inning game in Las Vegas Saturday that was taped by NBC, and now there’s talk of a tour to include Hawaii and Europe. . . .

Glad they’ve slowed down the Indy cars so much that a mere 225.301 m.p.h. average was good enough to win the provisional pole. . . .

You’ve got to be a horse racing buff to know that the Preakness is contested at the distance of 1 3/16 miles. . . .

Cotton Fitzsimmons keeps saying Phoenix winning the series from the Lakers would be the biggest upset in NBA history. Probably not. The Lakers were 6-1 favorites over the Suns at the Barbary Coast Sports Book in Las Vegas. . . .

This is beginning to look like the year the Detroit Pistons prove their greatness. . . .

Illegal defense rules should be ruled illegal. . . .

No member of the NBA all-rookie first team--David Robinson, Tim Hardaway, Vlade Divac, Sherman Douglas or Pooh Richardson--was drafted higher than 10th in the first round last year. Of course, Robinson was the first choice in 1987. . . .

What’s the first thing Columbo does in the morning? Peter Falk says he reads the New York Knicks’ box score. . . .

B.J. Armstrong looks young enough to be the Chicago Bulls’ ballboy. . . .

Being coach of a championship team doesn’t guarantee a good TV commentator. Chuck Daly should check with Bill Walsh. . . .

UCLA, that well-known soccer factory, leads the nation with four current or former players selected to the U.S. team for the World Cup. . . .

Terry Donahue is among several football and basketball coaches who are discussing the state of intercollegiate athletes with the Knight-Ridder commission in Washington. . . .

Harness racing owner Len Corbosiero claims night thoroughbred racing at Hollywood Park eventually would kill Los Alamitos. . . .

Ed O’Bannon, who recently said he will attend Nevada Las Vegas, will appear in the California Fabulous 44 Prep Basketball Classic June 24 at UC Irvine. . . .

Surest thing about the Jack-in-the-Box Invitational Sunday at Drake Stadium is that Steve Scott will run the mile in under four minutes for the 127th time. . . .

Don’t expect Mike Tyson and George Foreman to fight one another after they dispose of their opponents next month. Another doubleheader is in the works. . . .

So much for the home-court advantage in tennis now that Boris Becker has lost the German Open. . . .

Does Edmonton’s advancing to the Stanley Cup championship series justify the trade of Wayne Gretzky to the Kings two years ago? Not really. I have a feeling the Oilers would have made it to the finals even with Gretzky in their lineup.